LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - As Australian officials say they have decided on the new search area for the missing plane, new information has emerged about its disappearance and with it a plausible theory.

Australian authorities have announced their search area for the plane. The region is further south and suggests the plane may have flown a little farther than previously anticipated. The new search area is the size of the state of Texas in area and is based on refinements of calculations performed previously.

Despite the lack of any physical wreckage, the plane is widely assumed to be lost and new evidence appears to implicate the captain of the flight, 53-year old Zaharie Shah.

According to police, Shah did, in fact, practice landing on short island airstrips in the Indian Ocean on his home flight simulator. This powerfully suggests he could have premeditated hijacking the plane for himself and landing it on a remote island runway. A motive has not been assigned to this behavior.

The files were deliberately deleted before his final flight and were recently recovered by investigators. The islands are not simply emergency locations along the way, but locations far out in the ocean meaning he could have practiced the entire hijacking in advance.

The second, more damning clue, is that Shah had no plans following his last flight. Unlike all other people on the plane, including his co-pilot, Shah had no financial plans, no plans with friends or family for any time following the flight. Other crew and passengers had known, anticipated plans with others following their flight.

These two clues strongly implicate Shah. Shah also had the experience and opportunity, as well as a motive to perform such a deed, which in this case may have been an act of political protest, or just a suicide.

Shah's wife had just left him before, so he was likely to be emotionally distraught. He also reportedly had a heated phone conversation prior to takeoff, but the conversation was not said to be significant. That may have to be revisited.

It is hoped that when searches resume in August that the plane will be found intact and divers will be able to recover human remains. Careful examination of the crash site may shed important clues as to where people were and what was happening when they died.

A leading theory is that the passengers and crew may have died of hypoxia when the plane was flown to its maximum altitude. People would have momentarily struggled for oxygen, passed out and subsequently died.

Victims may have included Shah as well, unless he deployed an emergency air supply for himself. However, he may have opted to kill himself at the same time and left the autopilot on to fly the plan south into the expanse of the Indian Ocean.

For now, Shah remains a suspect, but a very likely one at that, given the clues. However, nothing is conclusive and until the wreck is found and recovered, what happened to flight MH370 will remain a mystery.

Pope Francis Prayer Intentions for March 2015
Universal: Scientists: That those involved in scientific research may serve the well-being of the whole human person.
Evangelization: Contribution of women: That the unique contribution of women to the life of the Church may be recognized always.

Students from the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology had no reaction when Suki Kim, an American writer and journalist posing as their Christian missionary teacher, flashed images of the United Nations, Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramids of Giza, as she told ... continue reading

Conjoined
twin girls in Indonesia have been born with a very rare genetic
condition. Both girls share a chest, abdomen - and a heart. Photos have
been circulated showing the babies in a hospital bed in the Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit of Soetomo Hospital in ... continue reading

When Indian street-food seller Kumar Pal first began treatment for
multi-drug resistant tuberculosis two years ago, he quickly spiraled into
depression and gave up hope of living. NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Weighing just 77 pounds, shunned by his ... continue reading

In
its attempts to become a world leader and an economic powerhouse, the
nation of India is taking those who take academic shortcuts, by cheating
in school, extremely harshly. More than six hundred students were
expelled in eastern India. Pictures of friends ... continue reading

An
important link in the take down of al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden has
been ruthlessly gunned down in retaliation. Attorney Samiullah Khan
Afridi, murdered by suspected Taliban gunmen was the legal
representative for Dr. Shakil Afridi. The doctor provided ... continue reading

Yet
another horrible Islamic State video, this one intended to recruit
followers in Indonesia, depicts Indonesian children, all younger than 15
years of age, training with weapons. Produced by Alazzam Media, which
claims to be the Malay language media division ... continue reading

According to new research from the journal ZooKeys, the so-called "yeti" hair samples as determined by a prior research, were only from brown bears. In the study's abstract, the researchers stated that they have no reason to conclude the samples came from any other ... continue reading

Pakistan's
worst attack on its Christian religious minority occurred this past
weekend when two churches in Lahore were targeted by suicide bombers.
Fifteen people were killed in all, and at least 70 other people suffered
injuries. According to Pakistan Taliban ... continue reading

Authorities
in eastern India are continuing their search for six men wanted in
connection with the gang rape of a 74-year-old nun in West Bengal.
Witnesses say the men ransacked the convent school in Ranaghat this past
weekend. LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) ... continue reading